Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with J.J.
Sedelmaier by clicking on the video player
above!

Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience
of sweaty cartoon characters hoping to be next in line for the J.J.
Sedelmaier treatment … in the NEW new media capital of the world…
St. Petersburg, Florida!

Order 'Saturday Night Live: The Best of Saturday TV
Funhouse' by J.J. Sedelmaier and Robert Smigel, available from
Amazon .com by clicking on the DVD cover above!

This year’s 40th anniversary of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”
became a time to reflect back on so many great characters that came
out of that show over four decades: • Roseanne Roseannadanna •
Stefon • The Blues Brothers • Father Guido Sarducci • And... The
Ambiguously Gay Duo!

J.J. SEDELMAIER podcast excerpt:
"Robert Smigel called and said he had this script for a
superhero-type cartoon, 'The Ambiguously Gay Duo.' Could he send it
over? It was the first time I ever laughed out loud at a script.
I've read scripts where I could see the humor in it and what I
could do with it, but this was plain hilarious. I love comic books.
To make fun of them in this way was extraordinary. I had to
understand immediately that they aren't gay. It's the homophobia
thing that's driving it. If they're gay that's not half as fun as
if they're not and everyone else is freaking out... Once you know
it's Stephen Colbert (as Ace), you can't not hear him. And Steve
Carrell is doing a voice, so it's very funny when you think,
'THAT'S Steve Carrell?' They were
great."

SNL's 'Saturday TV Funhouse' by J.J. Sedelmaier and Robert
Smigel

SNL's 'The X-Presidents' by J.J. Sedelmaier and Robert
Smigel

My guest today, J.J. Sedelmaier, teamed up with comedy writer
Robert Smigel to create Gary and Ace, the ever-curious,
ever-in-denial Ambiguously Gay Duo. What most of us didn’t know was
that the animated segment was voiced by Steve Carrell and Stephen
Colbert.

From the pens of J.J. Seidelmaier Studios came animation
featuring Beavis & Butthead, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law,
and The Amibuously Gay Duo

That cartoon was part of an irreverent series called “Saturday
TV Funhouse.” Who could ever forget hearing an animated Lorne
Michaels, in his uniquely Canadian way, snap “Come back with my
show!” as “The X-Presidents,” “Fun with Real Audio,” “Animated
Outtakes,” and the “Duo” unspooled over several seasons.

J.J. SEDELMAIER podcast excerpt:
"The thing I loved about animating 'Beavis' was that it looked like
Beavis and Butthead did the cartoon production! It looked the
drawings you'd see on the inside of a math textbook. I think Mike
Judge, at a certain point, was trying to get the drawings to be a
little bit better. I didn't want the drawings to be better! We
spent a lot of time trying to get it to stay crude... 'Beavis'
needed to look like it was done on the
fly."

Sedelmaier – who once dreamed not of being an animator but of a
career in comic books, was also present at the birth of Mike
Judge’s “Beavis & Butthead” for MTV, “Tek Jansen” for “The
Colbert Report,” “Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law” for Cartoon
Network’s Adult Swim, and “The Big Adventures of Little Shawn and
Gus” for USA Network’s long-running series, “Psych.” His studio –
co-founded and operated with his wife, Patrice – also has a strong
commercial portfolio, including design and animation work for
national clients as diverse as NBC Sports, Adidas, Scrubbing
Bubbles, and Alka-Seltzer.

Order 'The Great Comic Book Heroes' by Jules Feiffer,
available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover
above!

J.J. SEDELMAIER podcast excerpt:
"Before I got turned on by Will Eisner's stuff, I didn't really
read comics. I used to look at them; I loved the covers. The
first book I ever asked for was 'The Great Comic Book Heroes' by
Jules Feiffer. I was 8. My father was a strong inspiration in terms
of comic books. He read comic books as a kid; his mother KEPT all
of his comic books so I grew up reading his, which he still has! So
I'm going through 'The Great Comic Book Heroes' and seeing The
Flash, Superman, and Batman, and I got to the end and there is this
'Spirit' guy. I said to my father, 'Who's The Spirit?' He said,
'Just wait. You're too young right now.' Sure enough, when the
Warren 'Spirit' magazines came out in 1974, I was totally hooked.
The layouts, the staging, the storytelling... the drawing! I had
never seen anything like it. I gobbled up everything Will Eisner
that I possibly could."

Curiously, J.J. Sedelmaier and I have been Facebook friends for
years although we never met in person until he was pointed out in
the audience of a presentation I gave on the career of Will Eisner
in March at Wizard World in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was excited
to meet this legendary animator in the flesh and begged him to be a
guest here.

About the Podcast

What is Mr. Media® Interviews? The curiosity of Terry Gross, the skepticism of John Oliver, the unpredictability of Howard Stern, and, on occasion, the zen of Jon Stewart! Since February 2007, more than 1,300 exclusive Hollywood, celebrity, pop culture video and audio podcast and print interviews by Mr. Media®, a.k.a., Bob Andelman, with newsmakers in TV, radio, movies, music, magazines, newspapers, books, websites, social media, politics, sports, graphic novels, and comics!